in 1956 New Statesman pieceIn the 1940s, British scientist and novelist C.P. Snow first sounded the alarm about the growing gulf between what he called “scientific” and “traditional” cultures. Today, we call them the sciences and the humanities, but each side remains puzzled by its inability to learn from (or even to communicate coherently with) the other. Yet while recent history occasionally provides encouraging examples of science and humanities collaboration, few are as dramatic as the story told in the SciShow video above. “Ancient Roman shipwreck may unlock cosmic mysteries.”
The wreck in question occurred 2000 years ago, off the west coast of Sardinia. The ship, which set sail from the mining center of Cartagena, Spain, was carrying over 30 tons of lead processed into 1000 ingots. An important metal in the ancient Roman Empire, lead was used to make pipes (such as those laid in water mains), cisterns, roofs, and weapons of war. While our civilization has understandably become wary of running water through lead pipes (and in any case has much stronger metals at its disposal), lead is still well-used today, particularly as a shield against X-rays and other activities.
No matter how little you are entwined with scientific culture, you can surely understand how researchers in need of radiation shielding felt when a shipwreck filled with lead blocks was discovered in 1988. After thousands of years at the bottom of the ocean, the Roman lead had lost most of its radioactivity, making it ideal for shielding the ship. Cryogenic Underground Rare Phenomena Observatory (CUORE) in Gran Sasso National Laboratory, ItalyDesigned to study the mass of the neutrino, a subatomic particle long thought to have no mass, CUORE was expected to yield data that could lead to insights into the origins of the universe.
Eventually, physicists and archaeologists came to an agreement, and physicists were able to melt down the worst-preserved ingots from the shipwreck (after first removing any historically valuable inscriptions from their manufacture) to protect the highly sensitive CUORE from external radiation. The design worked, but as of last year, no experiments had produced conclusive results about the role of neutrinos in the emergence of life, the universe, and everything. Further investigating that question is the job of CUORE’s successor, CUPID (CUORE Upgrade with Particle Identification), which is scheduled to come online later this year. CP Snow wasn’t able to see these projects, but he wouldn’t be surprised that finding the convergence of science and the humanities requires digging deep.
Related Content:
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Based in Seoul, Colin MaOnershall Writing and broadcastingHe has written papers on cities, languages, and cultures, and his projects include the Substack newsletter. Books about cities And books A city without a state: Walking through 21st-century Los Angeles. Follow us on Twitter CollinhamOnershall or Facebook.
Source: Open Culture – www.openculture.com
